title: Recidivism rates for registered and nonregistered juvenile sexual offenders.
abstract: The primary purpose of this study is to examine the effects of South Carolina's comprehensive registration policy on recidivism of juveniles who sexually offend. Registered and nonregistered male youth are matched on year of index offense, age at index offense, race, prior person offenses, prior nonperson offenses, and type of index sexual offense, for a total of 111 matched pairs. Recidivism is assessed across a mean 4.3-year follow-up (SD = 2.5). The sexual offense reconviction rate is too low (2 events) to support between-group analyses. Cox regression results indicate no significant between-group differences with respect to new nonsexual person offense convictions but significant between-group differences with respect to new nonperson offense convictions. Specifically, registered youth are more likely than nonregistered youth to have new nonperson offense convictions across follow-up. Public policy implications of these findings are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29401, USA. letourej@musc.edu
authors.forename: Elizabeth J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Letourneau
authors.forename: Kevin S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Armstrong
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012042:Registries; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012309:Risk-Taking; D055502:Secondary Prevention; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013022:South Carolina / Q000453:epidemiology